Vampire Diaries co-creator and Legacies showrunner Julie Plec knows that some of the relationships between the formerly mentioned series' characters were a bit eyebrow-raising on paper. So, when it came time to create the world in Legacies, Plec decided to make a vital choice regarding the romantic entanglements of its teen characters. Explaining how she arrived at the decision and how it impacts the upcoming spinoff of The Originals, Plec said:
When I read The Vampire Diaries and I thought, 'Well, God, that's weird. Stefan's technically been on this Earth for, like, 162 years and Elena's 17,' and I said I'm just going to let it go, because Edward was older. And, like, that was literally, like, people seem cool with Edward and Bella, so they're going to be cool with this and that's just the end of it, and I'm going to, like, just put my head down and power through. . . . There is something deeply romantic in that gothic and harlequin romance kind of way, and deeply inappropriate if you look at it through another lens. And now, in 2018, there just is only one lens in my opinion in this moment, and I'm cool with that... So it's actually we've tried to be a little bit just socially responsible for the moment. It also opened doors for us to tell vampire stories that we haven't actually told yet. So it's fun.
Based on what Julie Plec said at the Television Critics Association's summer panel (via TV Guide), fans can expect a departure from the May-December vampire romances. At least for now, as the romance between Legacies' teen characters will take place between actual teenage characters. Legacies will follow the daughter of Klaus and Hayley, both characters that originated on The Vampire Diaries. Klaus was shall we say, a bit into his hundreds when he met Hayley and conceived Hope. Hayley was an adult though.
Legacies is set to take a break from showing romances between teens and characters who look like teens, which should shake up the vampire narrative quite a bit. That angle has been at the heart of many takes on the genre, so this change will give Legacies a new and unique tone. There is a lot to explore in a supernatural romance without having to have one between a teen and a character who is blowing out 150+ candles on their birthday cake.
The show will have its pick of genuine teens given the setting is the Salvatore School for the Young and Gifted. With the high school as the backdrop, there should be lots of actual "young" people for Hope and Alaric's daughters to interact with. And with Caroline not around to keep a maternal eye on the girls, she can rest assured that her daughters will not be drawn to a guy in his mid-hundreds, for now.
It will be interesting to learn what door has been opened as part of Julie Plec's strategy for Legacies. As Caroline and other young vampires from The Vampire Diaries and The Originals can attest, not every vampire is a hundred-plus years old. While Vampire Diaries did feature the love triangle between Stefan, Elena, and Damon as its central romance, they were not the only ones who got romantic on the show.
Caroline, Bonnie, Tyler, Jeremy, and Matt all had relationships with significant others that were around their age. Find out how Legacies carries the torch when the spinoff makes its debut.
Legacies will premiere Thursday, October 25 at 9 p.m. ET on The CW. For other new television shows set to bow this fall, check out CinemaBlend's guide to TV's fall premieres. If you are curious about what's coming up on The CW's lineup alone, you can check out the network's fall schedule here.
